In addition to writing for Aviation Week Network, Maxim holds a key position at Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine (www.ato.ru). In the past he was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications and earlier worked for the Moscow-based CAST defense think-tank.
Maxim has a degree on international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia, and for several years worked at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Angola has become a significant client for Russian weapons, signing a batch of defense contracts valued at $1 billion during the visit of a Russian delegation headed by Vice Premier Dmitry Rogozin to Luanda last week, according to Russian news reports. The package would include 18 Sukhoi Su-30K fighters with associated weaponry, Mi-17 helicopters, small arms and light weapons, ammunition, tanks and artillery systems. Russia also agreed to build a production facility for small arms ammunition in Angola.
MOSCOW — The long-delayed retrofitting of the Kiev-class Vikramaditya aircraft carrier (formerly the Russian Admiral Gorshkov) finally seems to be over. The ship “will leave our waters and head for India on November 30,” Russian Vice Premier Dmitry Rogozin promised Oct. 14. The handover ceremony will take place in Severodvinsk—where Vikramaditya was retrofitted—on Nov. 16 during the visit of Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony.
Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot yesterday unveiled a new low-cost subsidiary, Dobrolet. Named after the first Soviet commercial air transport organization that later served as the foundation for Aeroflot, the new carrier is expected to start operations in the second quarter of 2014. Aeroflot says the new airline initially will serve “the most popular destinations in the European part of Russia,” and that foreign destinations will be added in 2016.
